Spy vs Spy
by Dr. Breifs Cat
Summary: When his fledgling company, created to save the world from itself, comes under attack on four fronts, Tony Stark's last hope just might be a woman intent on destroying him herself.  COMICS-VERSE.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: Iron Man and all related characters, properties and ideas are owned by Marvel. This story specifically has been inspired by the writing of Bill Mantlo, Kurt Busiek and Matt Fraction.

Author Notes: Kristine "Krissy" Longfellow is an established Iron Man character appearing in the late '70s in runs by Gerry Conway and Bill Mantlo. I think the reading of this story will probably be very different for people who are familiar with her (Tony's POV) and people who are not (Pepper's POV.) You can look her up if you want more info, but if you don't know much about her, it is my hope to make the "mystery" of her character part of the fun.

**Spy vs. Spy  
><strong>_Chapter One_

Bambi Arbogast's official job title was 'office manager,' a title she had held at Stark Industries and later Stark International for nigh on a decade. These days, she was far more than the person who stewarded the address book (all digital, anyway) or kept track of Mr. Stark's appointments. To the fledgling Stark Resilient, she was the primary investor, folding the million she'd earned after leaving her boss behind into his newest venture. She had faith in him, was loyal to him and even if she didn't fully believe that he was on the fast track to solving the word's energy crisis, well...Tony had always been good to her. She didn't always approve of what he was up to, of course, but a wayward child needs a stiff hand and love to get back on the right track.

Pepper liked Mrs. Arbogast quite a bit, though she had never spent that much time with the woman before. Historically, they functioned as more or less the same cog in the Stark machine, so only one was needed at any given time. Pepper's new role as the CEO and COO meant that she was not pulling the same duties for Tony as she used to, so he had telephoned Mrs. Arbogast to ask her to come back. Pepper wouldn't mind being a Mrs. Arbogast-type herself in a decade or two - sharp and intelligent, with a biting wit made more poignant with age. At this point in her life, Pepper had very little to fear from the business world. She was established, professional, possessed a good reputation and a better resume. But she hadn't reached the age of just not caring what other people thought anymore or freely speaking her mind regardless of who was in the room. In some respects, Pepper was still looked upon as a little girl in a man's club. Her new role made Pepper the dominant of the two, but she was sure that no disrespectful man would treat Bambi like a stupid child, and if he tried, the woman would not take it without comment as Pepper had.

The offices of Stark Resilient were completely unlike anything else that had borne the Stark name. Tony and Rhodey compared it more to Circuits Maximus, a company they had owned together for the blink of an eye, and could only talk about for half that time before one or both of them began to grow uncomfortable. The difference was in the formality, the weight. Stark Industries, International and Enterprises had possessed sprawling campuses and thousands of employees worldwide. The Stark name meant quality, it had meant the future was now. Today, the Stark name meant the disgraced former leader of a failed peace-keeping organization and one of the two major instigators of the largest superhero vs. superhero battle the planet had ever seen. It meant product launches that were verifiable tragedies and a handful of people who were not getting paid for their work because the company needed every cent it had just to get off the ground. It meant working everyday with saboteur and having no idea which of your compatriots was secretly plotting against you. In the old Circuits Maximus days, every employee had lived together in one transportable building and Tony used to rent his services out for scrap because they could not afford new materials. It was the only respect in which Stark Resilient was better off.. Their materials consisted mostly of melted down and recycled Iron Man armors, but the building at least had a strong foundation.

It could, however, use more security, Pepper reflected wryly one day when she returned to work after a quick lunch run. Security had always been Happy's job when it wasn't Iron Man's and that position had been left empty. Once upon a time, Mrs. Arbogast had been patiently explaining to a blonde woman in the foyer that Mr. Stark was in a meeting, but by now she was about a degree past patient and into irritable. Tony's "meeting," Pepper knew, was playing pool in the back with Wyche and Rhodey, but they were probably also talking about cars or things that blow up, so it did count, technically.

"Tell him that Kristine Longfellow is here to see him," the blonde woman was saying, "and let him decide if the meeting is more important."

Pepper stepped around her to place the to-go salad she had picked up for Bambi on her desk. As she did so, she surveyed the visitor. The woman seemed more than confidant that just her name alone would have Tony bursting through the doors. She had short blonde hair, too much make-up, especially around the eyes, and was dressed in a blouse and slacks. To Pepper's embarrassingly trained eye, Kristine Longfellow did not appear to be Tony's type at all. Pepper had long wished that this skill of hers would deteriorate with disuse, but unfortunately, assessing other women was like riding a bike. She never forgot how to zero in on the faults or the physical characteristics Tony would find unattractive, no matter how out of practice she became.

"Just call him," Pepper found herself saying with a sigh as she eyed the phone on Bambi's desk. It was a small thing, and it would get the woman out of their hair if she was someone Tony wouldn't want to see. Besides which, if she did have something genuinely important to say, Pepper certainly would not want to have missed that opportunity because Tony was goofing off with his friends. Not everyone possessed enough common sense to make an appointment. Either way, the sooner they indulged the woman, the sooner she would say her piece and leave.

"One moment, please," Mrs. Arbogast said, casting Pepper a put-upon look. The red head remained impassive. The only good way to get rid of women that she had found was to tell them that Tony had gone out of town and they didn't know when he would be back, but it was already too late for that trick. Bambi rang his cell, which Tony answered quickly, and said, "Mr. Stark, a Ms. Longfellow is here to see you-"

Before Bambi had even finished the sentence, Iron Man burst through the main doors behind her desk into the foyer, half-armored up. Pepper and Bambi stared at him, slack-jawed, but Ms. Longfellow merely opened her palms and remarked calmly, "Everything is still in one piece."

Immediately, the armor receded into his body, replaced by a t-shirt and jeans combo that was not as solid as it looked. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

"I've been saying that for years. Doesn't answer my question."

"I came to talk. We've had a misunderstanding that I would like to clear up."

Tony looked between Pepper and Bambi for a moment, as if to assess that they were indeed, in one piece, and then back to Kristine. "I haven't seen you in years...Krissy." He said the name like it was a question. "I don't know what misunderstanding you think we've had."

Her brow furrowed slightly and her frown was just as understated. "I guess...I should have known," she said and pursed her lips. "But that doesn't explain why you burst in here expecting a fight."

Tony pinched the bridge of his nose, head slightly hung. "Yeah...I don't know why I did that, either. Sorry. It's been a rough couple of weeks." After a moment to compose himself, he dropped his hand and straightened. "How've you been?"

She shrugged. "Not as well as I thought."

"These things are an uphill climb. You'll make it."

Sounding confused, Krissy said, "Thank you, I think."

Tony exhaled hard, halfway to a laugh. "I mean that. You look good."

Her frown deepened and her eyes narrowed. "You look ridiculous."

"Ouch," he said good naturedly. "I've had a rough couple of weeks."

"You look like you're trying too hard," Krissy amended. Though Pepper had followed very little of this conversation, she could see that. The perfectly slicked hair and the perfectly trim goatee combined with the bags under Tony's eyes and the sunkenness of his cheeks betrayed a man who was trying to show the world that he was still on the top, yet falling short of convincing anyone. The casual clothes didn't help. He was usually immaculately dressed, but the clothes that he formed from liquid look threadbare. Pepper realized suddenly that she was not entirely sure how much control Tony had over his liquid constructs. The armor was the armor, of course, but he either could not or chose not to make the tuxedo that he wore to the Stark Resilient gala in Seattle. Most of what he created for himself looked sloppy and cheap. Perhaps he was choosing to make clothes that reflect his current monetary state. Or maybe he could not control what he made and it somehow reflected his emotional state.

But Tony just shook his head. "If you want to talk looks, I'm not the one who's trying too hard." Pepper could see that, too. Too much make-up, expressions too controlled, short blonde hair too perfect. Tony said she looked good, but the fact was, Ms. Longfellow looked _fake_.

"I should have known this was a mistake. I don't what I was thinking, coming here. I'll be on my way." She nodded to Pepper and Mrs. Arbogast. "Perhaps I should have just accepted no as an answer."

"Hey, no," Tony said, grabbing her arm as she turned away. "I didn't mean it like that. Come on." He smiled. "This is progress. This is a huge amount of progress. I'm very happy with this. I'm very proud of you."

"I do not need your condescension, Stark."

"I'm not being-!" He grimaced and amended himself. "I mean, I condescend to everyone. And you're right, you don't need that. But I mean it. The last time I saw you, you never would have come to me like this and you know it. This is huge. Let me be proud of you."

"Let go," she replied slowly, in a measured tone. Tony hesitated, but complied.

"Let's talk. About whatever it is you came here to talk about. Okay?" His body language and tone combined gave the effect that he was trying to calm down a wounded animal on the verge of attack.

Krissy hesitated, looked between Tony, Pepper and Bambi. She nodded, "Not here."

"Done," Tony said immediately, attaching his hand to the small of her back and already guiding her out the door. Over his shoulder, he called back, "Tell the guys I went out. Don't know when I'll be back."

After the doors close behind the pair, Pepper remarked to Mrs. Arbogast, "She's got dirt on him."

"The way he behaves," the older woman wryly replied, "they usually do."

* * *

><p>They walked down the streets of Broxton in silence to a small restaurant that Tony had never been to before, but came recommended by Don Blake. They were led to a booth. Tony waited until Krissy selected a side and then slid in beside her, effectively trapping her between himself and the window. He ordered two coffees from the waitress, a woman will little patience or humor for a middle-aged man sitting in the same side of the booth as his date like a teenager.<p>

"So."

"Move."

"Talk."

"Sit on the other side."

He grinned. "But I'm so comfy here. Plus," here, he dropped his voice to barely more than a whisper, "I know you holster your gun on your right side. I sit on your left and I'm armored up before you can aim. Got the window right there for an easy exit, no one gets hurt. That's one way of looking at it. Here's the other: you don't like being around people or open spaces. Special one day offer: Tony stands between you and the rest of the world. I won't let anyone you don't want get near you."

"And supposing I don't want _you_ near me?"

"Hey. You came to me."

"Yes, because I wanted to clear my name. But as far as you know, my name is clear, which I must admit I don't understand."

"I can promise you the problem is on my end," Tony groused. "What does your name need to be cleared of? Enlighten me."

"Can you access the prisoner manifest of the Raft?"

"Not officially..."

Understanding the unspoken affirmative, she said, "Hack in."

Armor began to flow out of him, just enough to do the job. As Krissy waited, the waitress returned. Living in a town populated by Norse gods and recently under siege by a corrupt government, there were many things that the residents of Broxton recently had cause to get used to. A man sitting listlessly in a cafe booth, partially surrounded by a mechanized robotic suit was not one of them. Her hands shook as she set the mugs off coffee before the pair. Krissy waved her off before the waitress could inquire about further orders and set to work on doctoring her coffee.

"Well," Tony declared, his brain retreating from cyberspace and returning to the hard reality before him, "that's interesting. Bioduplicate?"

"Of course. I thought they were all dead, but apparently, I missed at least one."

"I thought the bioduplicates were good," Tony said, adding sugar packets to his own mug.

"They are unique," Krissy corrected. "Better than me, usually, but not _good_. Merely different shades of who I could be."

"This one rotting in a cell in the Raft is a pretty dark shade, I'd say. And I'm assuming she attacked me pretty recently," Tony theorized as he stirred half-and-half into his coffee. "You wanted me to know that it wasn't really you."

Krissy nodded. "When I saw myself on the news, captured by those renegade Avengers, I thought it was something like that. I remotely downloaded the bioduplicates memories and there it was, plain as day. It wasn't me, Tony. I left that part of my life behind. I'm not going back."

"I believe you," he said, steady, unflinching. "The fact that you are in two places at once is a pretty strong argument for your side of the story. You don't have to convince me anymore."

"Thank you." She took a long sip of coffee. "What I still don't understand is why you don't seem to know about her."

He tapped his temple. "I've got some memory issues of my own. Whatever meeting I had with this duplicate was erased."

Krissy set her mug down. "According to the memories I downloaded, you were doing something to your brain. She thought you were doomed."

"She wasn't that far off the mark," Tony conceded. "It was a close one."

"Judging from the looks of you, things haven't gotten much better."

"You'd be surprised," Tony told her. "Sure, I've had a few set backs, but there have been great strides forward, too."

"Why do I get the feeling you're talking about me?" she asked, one corner of her mouth quirked.

"Because you see right through me, always have, and I am," he answered. "When was the last time we had a drink like this?"

"Like this? Never."

"Exactly." Tony sipped and made a face. "This stuff is terrible."

"There's a reason we never had coffee in the middle of no where before," Krissy said. "And it looks like we should have kept it that way."

"When did you stop wanting to try new things?"

"When I realized that straying away from what was familiar was the cause of all of my problems."

"I'm going to let that slide, but only because I don't want to mark this momentous occasion with an argument in public."

"Oh? Do you have a better way to mark the occasion?"

"I might," Tony said. "Because I think I have a job for you."

* * *

><p>"You owe Jim an apology," Pepper remarked later that day, when Tony returned to the office.<p>

"He still here?"

"No, he left. Who was that woman?"

"An ex. Did you tell Rhodey who I left with?"

Pepper shrugged. "No, Mrs. Arbogast told him you went out and didn't know when you would be back, like you said. You dated that woman? Really? She doesn't seem like your type."

"Not my type?" Tony sputtered. "Of course she's my type. She's got a great body and likes me almost half the time." He cocked his head. "Am I detecting a whiff of jealousy?"

He was, Pepper reflected ruefully. It was a knee-jerk reaction, she knew. As of late, Tony had been feeling a little bit too much like her territory and while she was absolutely decided upon a course of non-romantic entanglement with the man, she hadn't quite gotten around to telling him that yet. Her head and her common sense told her not to fight for him and for the most part, her heart agreed. If Hill or Longfellow or any other women came down the pike wanting him, Pepper knew it was in her best interest to bite her lip and let them sort it out. There had been a few too many deathbed revelations for her taste all ready. If she didn't intend to back it up, there was no sense in staking a claim, even if she couldn't help the annoyance that bubbled when he wandered off with fake-looking strumpets.

More than wanting to avoid being hurt by him, Pepper didn't like herself when she was mooning over Tony. He made her catty.

"You'd have better luck with relationships if you had higher standards," she advised. "Maybe you should look for a woman who likes you three-fifths of the time."

"A full three-quarters is out of the question, huh?" He laughed, but said rather seriously, "Look, let's keep this on the down low for now, okay? Rhodey doesn't like her and him pissed off is about the last thing in the world I need right now."

"Respecting your best friend's feelings is out of the question already? That has to be some kind of record, even for you."

"Rhodey's a great guy. He's a great friend, really loyal. But he's the kind of loyal that's ready to villainize any woman who sinks her teeth into me, no matter how unjustified. I don't want to fight about it with him again."

In Pepper's experience, Rhodey was one of the more level headed men to make Tony's acquaintance. She couldn't see him jumping to paint some poor woman evil. She did, however, have to concede that her only frame of reference for James Rhodes was as Tony Stark's friend. Comparatively speaking, most men came off level headed next to Tony. And Tony did know him significantly better and significantly longer than she had. However, if Rhodey thought a woman a villain, she probably had done something to warrant it. Tony wishing to avoid the subject with Rhodey raised red flags as well. Tony only avoided things when he was aware he was the guilty party.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimers: Iron Man and all related characters, properties and ideas are owned by Marvel. This story specifically has been inspired by the writing of Bill Mantlo, Kurt Busiek and Matt Fraction.

Author Notes: Kristine "Krissy" Longfellow is an established Iron Man character appearing in the late '70s in runs by Gerry Conway and Bill Mantlo. I think the reading of this story will probably be very different for people who are familiar with her (Tony's POV) and people who are not (Pepper's POV.) You can look her up if you want more info, but if you don't know much about her, it is my hope to make the "mystery" of her character part of the fun.

**Spy vs. Spy  
><strong>_Chapter Two_

Kristine Longfellow was in and out of the Stark Resilient offices about two or three times a week for the next month and half. She never stayed long or made much small talk with any of the employees, just came to briefly speak with Tony before being on her way. He wreaked of guilt about the whole thing. It was hard to judge if it was because he was keeping it from Rhodey or because of something else. In any case, Jim wasn't an idiot and he knew something was afoot. He had even spotted the blonde woman a few times, though to Pepper's surprise, he had shown absolutely no recognition. That did not deter Tony from his clandestine approach to the whole thing. Whatever was going on, Tony was not keen to share it with any of them. Pepper would have thought it was a simple and private as a few scheduled booty calls, but the meetings left Tony tense and uncomfortable. If Longfellow was blackmailing him, she had certainly chosen an odd time to do so. Tony had nothing to show for himself after the Hammer girls had turned his car initiative into a large explosive embarrassment. Tony wasn't the sort to let someone get away with blackmailing him, anyway. He was more than gifted at counter-manipulations.

One morning over a breakfast of supermarket blueberry muffins, Pepper finally asked, "What does she have on you?" Tony had not been forthcoming about his mysterious meetings. The subtle approach to get him talking about it had not been working. All she had left was to ask point-blank.

"Who?" Tony asked back. A fair enough question, given the likely amount of incalculable witnesses to various indiscretions he had made.

"Ms. Longfellow."

He coughed. "Nothing."

"If she's not blackmailing you, then why won't you talk about all of these meetings you've been having? Don't say it's about Rhodey," Pepper cautioned, cutting Tony's usual protest off before he could begin. "He has no idea who she is."

"Why does your mind always immediately jump to blackmail?" Tony mused, picking at a muffin. Before Pepper had known he was the man behind the iron mask, she had been more than convinced that Iron Man was blackmailing him. Tony did have to admit that refusing to divulge the identity of a man armed to the teeth was a little suspicious, but as far as cover stories went, it had worked out for a long time.

"Because you always look uncomfortable after talking to her. Because she never talks to any of us -"

"- She's _shy_."

"Because if you can't even be honest about it with Rhodey and me, then something's really wrong." Pepper picked at the paper wrapper of her muffin. "I'm scared, Tony. I can't pretend that this isn't scaring me anymore."

Tony leaned back and looked Pepper over appraisingly. "Krissy's doing a job for me. For all of us, for Stark Resilient. She's really pissed about it, but she's going along with it because she owes me a big one. You and Rhodey and Mrs. A. make her nervous. The three of you are all loyal to me and Krissy has some trust issues. We haven't always been on the best terms and she thinks you'd want to hurt her as some kind of vengeance."

"She's doing a job for Stark Resilient," Pepper repeated, low and angry. "She's doing a job for Stark Resilient and you hired her without so much as a head's up to me. I'm the CEO of this company, Tony. I'm the person who is running the show and keeping everything together and you don't even bother to tell me when you've brought on a new person? Tony, do you realize how small this company is? Every single person we have makes a very significant contribution. We don't have grunts or entry-level or any kind of position where me just knowing about it is so unimportant and irrelevant that you can do whatever you want without telling me!"

"Do you realize," Tony shot back, "that we are being taken down by an inside job? I don't know who not to trust. Every single person in this building is someone I have complete faith in, but one of them is working with the Hammers. Is it Wyche, is it Bambi, is it you? I don't know. I don't think any of you would do this, but clearly someone is. I've trusted the wrong people. Usually it's a woman who hoodwinks me by offering what I want and backstabbing me, but I want this company to work more than I've ever wanted someone else. A woman can walk out on you one day because she never really loved you, or worse yet, she's walking out and she _does_. But if I solve the world's damn energy crisis, fossil fuels aren't going to show up one day and say, 'No, sorry, this planet still depends on us.'" I can be blinded by wanting. I know that, you know that, and Krissy knows it, too. She doesn't trust any of us - that's including me. She's going to figure this out. She's the only person who can because she is the only one who can't give anyone the benefit of the doubt."

Pepper massaged her forehead. "I don't even know where to start," she moaned. "You didn't tell me because you don't trust me is what all of that sounds like. You trust me enough to be the CEO of a company that is more important to you than anything, enough to give me my own armor, but not enough to tell me when something is worrying you? Which is completely irrelevant anyway, because _you just told me._ Why couldn't you have told me in the beginning?"

"I didn't plan telling you now," he answered.

"That is not a defense. That makes it worse. You need to tell me these things."

"You're better off not knowing."

"Oh, the 'you are just trying to protect me' excuse barely worked when I didn't have powers and is ridiculous now. The more I know, the more Rescue knows. You wouldn't tell an Avenger it's for their own good."

"I thought we agreed that Rescue doesn't fight," he interjected.

"Number two, what makes you think this woman is capable of figuring out who is the mole?"

"She's done it before," he answered. "Hell, that time, she did it completely under my nose. She had figured out who was working against me before I even knew someone was."

"Number three, how do you know she isn't working with the mole?"

"I don't," Tony answered, "not for sure. I can guess she isn't. She approached me about something completely unrelated, the timing, the fact that we've had our differences in the past, but something like this was never her MO. If she is working with the mole, she'd be counting on all of that to cover her trail. She's...if you want to get right down to it, she is someone who is very comfortable with lying about who she is. Rhodey doesn't recognize her because he never knew her as Krissy Longfellow. He knew her as someone else. _You_ know her as someone else. If she was working against me and wanted to hide it, she'd do it as someone I don't know. If she was working against me and she wanted to rub it in my face, Krissy Longfellow isn't the person she'd do it as. She's got better weapons. I don't think she's part of the Hammer plan, but I don't think any of you are and that's the issue in the first place."

"What happens if she is?"

"We hope that two people lying about the same thing will start to contradict each other's details."

"We _hope_?" Pepper echoed. "That's more of a risk than you usually take."

Tony shrugged. "If she is working with the Hammers, we hope. But I have faith that she's not."

"I hope that faith isn't misplaced."

Cheekily, Tony grinned. "Me, too."

* * *

><p>"I don't understand why you're so focused on Ezekiel Stane," Krissy said, looking over photographs Tony had spread over the coffee table in his hotel suite. "You already caught him and shut down his black market ring. That trail is cold."<p>

"Because I know he's connected with Sasha Hammer. She was there at the start of this. And, let's be clear, I shut down part of that ring. There's no way I got every branch."

Krissy crouched beside the couch to better reach a photograph. She picked up the satellite image of Sasha in Taiwan. "If someone was selling your wares on the black market, trust me. I'd know." She chewed the inside of her cheek. "She may have been there when Stane Jr. let you know he was out there, but that doesn't mean they are still working together. These alliances don't necessarily last long. Usually only as long as both parties find the other useful. Stane's not useful from jail. He's not getting intel in or out."

"And how would you know?"

"Because I would have _bought_ them," she drawled. "And unlike your chubby collector friend," she gestured at a photo, "I wouldn't think twice about _using_ them."

"I thought you left that part of your life behind," Tony reminded her.

Krissy pursed her lips. "Just in case," she amended.

"What makes you so confident that he's not getting anything in or out of prison?"

"I couldn't get a message in. Pulled every string I have. As for getting information out, no one has heard a thing. The lower-level goons Justin Hammer used to employ are the sort who'd spill the beans to you _or_ me. Nothing. The Ghost says he hasn't heard anything, but he's not too happy with me right now, so he could be lying. On the other hand, he's a Thunderbolt these days, so it would be suicide to go to him for assistance."

"You make it sound like my rogue's gallery has each other on speed dial," Tony said. A lot of his enemies had been brought over to the side good, or at least the side of existing somewhat amicably with him, but the idea of the Ghost as part of a government sponsored hero team would take more getting used to.

"A lot of us _do_. Problem is, Stane is a small-thinker. This is about you, personally, to him. He doesn't care about the greater goals the rest of us have. It's not about power or money or anything else he might have to gain. Teaming up with someone who is driven by something else doesn't benefit him and he can't make anyone else see how it would benefit them. What do the Hammers want and how can his goals of killing you help them?"

"They want to embarrass me. They want me useless, outdated."

"That's not the same as killing you," Krissy sighed, vexed. "If they want you to suffer the embarrassment, they might even be opposed to killing you. It doesn't match up."

"I know she was there," Tony insisted. "She was with him."

Krissy shrugged. "Instead of Hammer to Stane, let's look at your employees to Stane. Arbogast and Potts were both kidnapped by Obadiah. Cababa's people were killed by Ezekiel's suicide bombers. Wyche and Pimacher have no trail to the Stane family. None of them have any motivation to work with him and more than half have a reason to be fighting him."

"Connections to Hammer or the Roxxon Energy Group?"

"None, under those names. I've been looking for alternate identities, but that's been a dead end so far. Wyche got into alternate energy sources after you let him go. He's the one to watch as far as a past with Roxxon, but it's a minor link at best. I've found no indication of anyone actually working with the company. If one of them is Spymaster, then there is going to be at least one fake name in the trail that would get us from here to there. If your saboteur is simply working with Spymaster, then we might never find the link. There have been a lot of Spymasters over the years and none of them have ever let themselves be vulnerable."

"Suggestions?"

"Next time you see Spymaster," Krissy said simply, "kill him. You aren't going to dig him out."

"Absolutely not."

"Then find someone who will," she hissed.

"Okay, who don't you have on speed dial?" Tony asked. "If no one is talking to someone you know, then they are talking to someone you don't."

"Fin Fang Foom? The Mandarin? Stane is a small fry or outside the area of interest for the people I don't know." Absently, she rearranged the photo spread. "Stane and the Hammers both count on goons and money to do their dirty work. The aliens, the megalomaniacs, they aren't going to be working for anyone. If Stane is moving information out of prison, he would be using Beetle, Blizzard, Whiplash," Krissy ticked the names off on her fingers, "Maybe not them necessarily, but someone he can _control_. Someone who would still be be afraid of him after he's been neutralized."

After a long silence in which they both contended with their thoughts, Tony asked conversationally, "Have you ever met Zeke Stane?"

"A few times, a couple years ago," Krissy said. "He was probably around 12."

Surprised by the answer, Tony pressed, "What did you think?"

"Not much."

"Was he a fan of yours?"

She laughed. "No, he definitely wasn't. My relationship with Obadiah was not the kind that a kid wants their parents in."

"What kind of a relationship was it?"

Krissy smiled. Her teeth gleamed in a predatory fashion. "We were sleeping together."

Tony blinked. "You're kidding."

"No," she said, with a shrug. "He wanted everything _you_ had ever had and that included _me_."

"And you went along with it," Tony said with disbelief.

"Well, it isn't like I wasn't getting anything out of the arrangement," Krissy pointed out. "They both knew I was using Obadiah, but he was using me back. Zeke is the only one who was bothered by it."

"He doesn't like you. You couldn't get a message to him. That could be indicative of his power over the prison system."

"I didn't advertise who is trying to get in touch with him. That would be showing my hand."

"Fine," Tony said, but his tone made it evident he did not agree. "He's cut off. He's off the table."

"I think so."

"But Sasha Hammer worked with him," Tony persisted.

"If you say so," Krissy sighed.

"So whatever plan she and her mother have, he could have been part of the creation of that plan."

"It's possible," she agreed.

"You don't think so," Tony said flatly.

She pursed her lips and shrugged. "I don't see what either of them have to gain from working together. We have four threads here: Stane, Hammer, Spymaster, your insider. You can't assume all four will weave in perfectly together. If you are being compromised on one front, someone else, unrelated to that attack, would be smart to go after you at the same time. You don't want to be proactive and take out the ones we know. That leaves us with Spymaster and your insider. They might be the same person, they might be just working together."

"About the inside job. I cut the guys off from each other. Every communication they have is being monitored."

"Tell me who they talk to. I'll follow up on those leads."

"I'll send you the feeds. So far, it mostly looks like parents, girlfriends, that sort of thing."

"You want to eliminate parents as suspects?" Krissy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Or significant others? Oh, Tony, Tony, Tony," she tutted. "Switch up the channels you use to call me. I'll be checking them all." She collected the scattered photographs, depositing them into her purse. "I'll be taking these." She let herself out but paused at the doorway. "You," said pointedly, "are either very trusting or very stupid and I'm not sure which."

"Yeah," Tony said, stuffing his hands in his pockets, "pretty sure it's both."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimers: Iron Man and all related characters, properties and ideas are owned by Marvel. This story specifically has been inspired by the writing of Bill Mantlo, Kurt Busiek and Matt Fraction.

Author Notes: Kristine "Krissy" Longfellow is an established Iron Man character appearing in the late '70s in runs by Gerry Conway and Bill Mantlo. I think the reading of this story will probably be very different for people who are familiar with her (Tony's POV) and people who are not (Pepper's POV.) You can look her up if you want more info, but if you don't know much about her, it is my hope to make the "mystery" of her character part of the fun.

**Spy vs. Spy**

_Chapter Three_

Krissy let herself into the Stark Resilient office and stopped short when she saw Tony and Pepper chatting at the reception desk. She didn't know what they had been talking about, but she had the sinking feeling that it had something to do with her. She knew from keeping watch on him, as well as the employees, that Tony had been very tight-lipped regarding her purpose. It would be counter-productive to be forthcoming about someone trying to root out a spy. Whoever it was would simply shut down their operation until the heat was off or find a new way to fulfill their obligations. Ms. Potts was not a suspect, neither was Rhodes. Krissy had adamantly protested their differential treatment. In positions of trust, as they were, Potts and Rhodes were poised to do the most damage. Even if they personally would not wish to harm Tony, mind-control, blackmail or _accidentally_ leaving sensitive information where it could be absconded with by a true enemy could not be ruled out. They both risked their lives for his sake, was Tony's argument. If they were mind-controlled or blackmailed, they would not do that. She could not help but note that his reasoning did not have a defense against the charges of potential carelessness on either of their parts.

But unlike Tony, she had a personal distaste for them both and was assured that it was mutual. They both knew she was not impartial. Any suspicions she voiced on them would be viewed as tainted. Still, Krissy had to draw the line at Tony discussing her with them.

Aware of her entrance, Tony ended his conversation with Potts and leaned on the desk towards Krissy. "Here's my new plan," he told her, cheekily. "Seduce them."

Her hands curled into fists. "Excuse me?"

"The guys," Tony said with a shrug. "Just, you know, seduce their secrets out of them."

She looked at Potts, who was pointedly reading a collection of print outs. Krissy could feel sweat trickling down the back of her neck. He was openly speaking of plans and suspects and plotting against men with her feminine wiles and _why would he do that?_ She had let herself in. Anyone could let themselves into the building. While Krissy had not found a trace of anyone else bugging Stark Resilient when she set up her own listening devices, that meant nothing. Someone could be listening to them right now.

"Yes," she hissed. "I'm so good at that," Krissy said with sarcasm. "It always works out exactly the way I want it to."

"Just a suggestion," Tony replied, overly chipper.

She glared at him, at Potts, and Tony again for good measure. Grinning, he wandered out from behind the reception desk. "What?"

"Why are you saying things in front of her?" Krissy ground out through gritted teeth. It was supposed to have been a whisper, though evidently not quiet enough because Potts looked up and frowned.

"Pepper's fine. It's fine. I told her -"

"- WHAT?" Krissy screeched.

"Well," Tony quickly amended. "Not everything. Just, you know, just enough. She thought you were just a little suspicious and we cleared it up." He waved a hand dismissively.

"Did you?" Krissy drawled, folding her arms across her chest.

"I know what you're thinking," Tony said, clapping a hand on Krissy's shoulder in what should have been a reassuring manner. "But Pep was never a suspect."

"Of course she was," Krissy bit back, leaning away from him.

"No," Tony said harshly. "Never. So, I told her about what you're doing -"

"How much?" Krissy interrupted, casting a suspicious glance at Potts.

Ignoring her, Tony continued. "- and she's going to help."

Without another word, Krissy spun and stalked out of the building. Tony followed on her heels. Once the doors of Stark Resilient shut behind them, he demanded, "What the hell was that about?"

"Why are you telling her about me? _What_ are you telling her about me?" Krissy angrily questioned.

"That you're helping," Tony answered. "You're a friend, you're helping us out and that's it."

"So you didn't tell her that I'm -"

Aghast, he cried, "No!" Seeing an expression that made it clear the knee-jerk outburst had made her more angry, not less, Tony hasted to continue, "She was suspicious. Maybe even scared. I told her that I didn't want Rhodey knowing about you, which she thought was weird and it is. But you two don't get along, right? You were always around, but never talking to anyone but me and it bugged her. So, I was trying to make her less upset, not more upset and just told her about the non-upsetting parts of our arrangement."

"She doesn't trust me," Krissy said flatly.

"You have not," Tony said carefully, "given her lots of reasons to. But that doesn't mean she's against you. She wants to end this Spymaster business just as much as the rest of us. That's why we have the new plan. The actual new plan. The teamwork plan."

"I won't work with her. I can't." Setting her shoulders, Krissy hasted the pace of her walk.

"You can," Tony said, following. "You worked with the Avengers," he pointed out, recalling a time she and the Earth's Mightiest Heroes had briefly shared an enemy, "And they weren't exactly your favorite people, either. You, me and Pep can handle this."

"I don't have any problems with the Avengers," she said stiffly.

"You didn't like being there," Tony reminded her.

"They held me captive," she replied. "I didn't have a choice."

"And everything worked out."

"I was going to betray you," Krissy growled.

Tony squared his jaw. He rounded her, blocked her path with himself and clapped his hands on her shoulders. "But you didn't. Why not?"

"You know why," she huffed, refusing his attempts at eye contact.

"Because of me," he answered, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "I'm going to be right here. The whole time. It's going to be fine."

"_You_ aren't the problem. _She_ is."

"You two have never actually met so I don't know what your problem is," Tony mused, letting go of his hold on her. "Unless the problem is me and frankly, neither of you are into me, so there's nothing to fight about." Undeterred, she stepped around him and continued, expression unreadable and eyes fixed straight ahead. "Unless the problem _is_ me. You two to met and I don't remember."

Krissy's steps faltered.

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," she said, suddenly adopting a cloying tone.

"What did your bioduplicate do to her?" he asked, growing agitated.

"Tortured her. Tried to kill her." Krissy shrugged. "She's obviously fine, but people have a long memory for that sort of thing..."

"Why would you do that?" he ground out.

"_I_ didn't," she snapped back.

"But you downloaded the memories. It's a first hand experience for you. You know what she was thinking as well as you know your own thoughts. You saw everything from her eyes."

"I didn't do it," she protested. "I wouldn't do something like that."

"Beth -" Tony began.

"- was different," Krissy snapped.

"How?" he snarled.

"I didn't know you loved her," Krissy spat. "I thought you were screwing around on me! We stopped fighting when..." Angrily, she tossed her head. "I don't want to hurt you." Krissy sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than him. "I don't."

"I know," he said soberly.

"I mean it, Tony, I really mean it." She crossed her arms, gripping her own elbows as though overtaken by a sudden chill. "Sometimes, I hate you. I _want_ to hate you. I have lots of really good reasons to hate you. But I don't want to hurt you. Except when I do." She shook her head. "Hurting Potts hurts you. I wouldn't do that. The duplicate did it to hurt you. Potts will look at me and see her. Even if we tell her about the bioduplicates -"

"- She already knows," Tony interjected.

"- She will look at me and see her. How can I work with someone who sees me as that?"

"You aren't giving anyone here enough credit," Tony said. "Look at us. You've tried to kill me about half a dozen times and I'm still here. You keep saying you don't want to hurt me, but you have. A lot. I actually want to cry right now. And I'm still here. And I promise you, I am going to stay. Look at you. Look at how much we've been able to talk. Before today, you barely even freaked out. You think you aren't getting better, but you are. You really are. The environments you were in, the things you used to do, they were poison. You stopped being able to trust anyone because you surrounded yourself with people who were willing to hurt you to further their own goals. But most of the people in the world aren't like that. Most of us are pretty okay. Five minutes with someone who trusts you and look how much you open up. I'd sooner cut off my own leg than turn on you. You know that by now, and we're okay. I'm not saying Pepper's not going to care, but she already knows about the bioduplicates. She's hung around me long enough to know that things get pretty weird in our world. She'll get over it."

She stared at him for a long moment, completely still before declaring, "I am willing to listen to the real plan. I'm not saying I'll do it."

"Okay, yeah, the seduction thing - bad joke. The real plan is to just ask them."

"Ask them," Krissy repeated, deadpan.

"Yeah," Tony affirmed. "You dress up in your super villain duds and ask for a team up. Offer money, power, a challenge - whatever it takes. See who accepts."

"You want me to recruit people to try and kill you?" she asked, dumbfounded.

"I'll be an unsuspecting sitting duck for you to pop off and once one of them goes for it, Pep swoops in and nabs them."

"Suppose everyone says no," Krissy offered.

"We record everything and examine the feedback for tells."

"Suppose more than one person says yes," Krissy said with a smirk, looping her thumbs through the belt loops of her slacks.

"Then I'm really bad at hiring and need a new personnel department ASAP."

She shrugged a shoulder. "Maybe I'll just kill you myself, if you're going to be an easy target."

He clasped her hands. "I'll take that risk."

"I don't like this plan," Krissy said, looking down at their entwined fingers.

"It'll be great. Just like old times."

Tugging her hands away, she declared, "We have very different memories of our relationship."

"I remember being happy," he said. "For longer than any woman has made me before or since."

* * *

><p>"This is insanity," Pepper said reproachfully as she watched Krissy clean and load guns at the coffee table in Tony's hotel room. "You can't think this is going to work. Are those legal?"<p>

"No," Krissy answered, locking the magazine into place. "And I don't."

"Whoever the spy is, he isn't going to jump at the chance to team up with some imaginary super villain that you two just made up," Pepper reasoned.

"True," Tony said, sitting on the couch beside Krissy as he installed recording equipment in Rescue's helmet. "We're banking on reputation, going with someone well known." He tossed the helmet to Pepper, who caught it in armor encased hands. "JARVIS," he instructed once Pepper donned her helmet, "Cycle Nine, Authorization Code: Centurion Seven Pepper. How's that?"

"It's recording," Rescue replied. "Audio, video, I've got bio-readings on you both. Breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, temperature. Wow, it's even scanned for your retina patterns and fingerprints."

"Ask Krissy something," Tony prompted. "Anything." To the woman seated beside him, he said, "Tell the truth."

"How old are you?"

"Thirty-two."

"Ask again," he prompted Rescue, "And let's see how it compares when Krissy lies."

"How old are you?" Rescue asked again.

"Twenty-two."

"How does it look?" Tony asked.

"Um...fMRI - what's that -"

"_Functional_ Magnetic Resonance Imaging," Tony explained by way of interruption.

" - ahem," Rescue said sharply. It had not been a rhetorical question, but she would have liked to finish her sentence first. "The fMRI registers increased activity in the prefrontal and parietal lobes of her brain. JARVIS says that's because she had to make up her lie on the spot."

"It's still pretty reliable with people who've practiced their story," Tony assured her. "What else?"

"I'm seeing changes in blood pressure, pulse and respiration. Electrodermal response was really weird both times. The control sample on that one is no good."

Tony frowned. "Weird how?"

"Her head and the rest of her body have completely different readings. I think - I think the electrodermal reading thinks she doesn't even have a head."

"Tony will have to repair that," Krissy drawled, disengaging the safety of her gun.

"It doesn't matter, Pep," Tony said, shaking his head. "We've got plenty of other readings. We don't need that one."

"Rescue, when I'm in the suit," she corrected. Speaking of which, what well-known super villain is Ms. Longfellow going to dress up as?"

Tony and Krissy exchanged glances. Tony answered, "Madame Masque."

"Madame Masque is in the Raft," Rescue pointed out. "The Avengers put the Hood's entire syndicate away months ago."

"I think Krissy can sell it," Tony said, shrugging. He looked at her appraisingly. "Her Madame Masque impression is really, really good."

"She can sell being in two places at once?" Rescue asked skeptically.

"Given Madame Masque's history, it is possible," Krissy pointed out. "She fears the outside world, so she created bioduplicates - hyper-aged clones that do her dirty work for her. Once they did what she created them to do, she'd kill them, lest they turn on her first. Most were destroyed when Count Nefaria and the Avengers raided her Nevada compound years ago, but evidently at least one survived. The woman in the Raft is a clone."

"You..." Rescue said haltingly, as she registered the readings in her helmet, "you aren't making that up."

Krissy squinted one eye as she nudged the barrel of her cleaned and loaded gun against Tony's side, right underneath his ribs. "The woman you defeated in Tunguska was the very same clone, Ms. Potts."

Tony squirmed. "I should probably hear this story."

"It's not very exciting," Krissy protested, pulling the trigger.

The chaos settles in a manner of seconds. The bang of the gun. The clang as the bullet hits Tony's armor - armor that leaked out of him with the speed needed to protect him from a shot at point-blank range. His voice - he cries out, something about ricochet. Before Pepper was able to even process what had just occurred, JARVIS has raised her arms and disintegrated the dented bullet on its second pass through the air. Underneath her helmet, Pepper breathed hard and wild. Krissy was tucked against Iron Man's side, laughing hysterically. His arms held her steady and there was almost something like affection in his mechanical voice when he said, "You scare the crap out of me!"

Arms raised, repulsors lit with a power that can rip metal to pieces, Rescue declared, "She _is_ Madame Masque."

"I told you she could sell it," Iron Man replied.

"That armor is really good," the woman said into his chest.

"Thanks, Whit. I like it myself." Armored fingers plucked the blond wig from her head and began to fluff the long, wavy black tresses that had been pinned underneath the hair piece for so long.

Whitney batted his hands away and scooted further down the couch, away from the body she had been curled against. When she was through removing the pins and finger-combing her hair down, she peeled off the fake, overly made-up face of Krissy Longfellow.

Pepper's heart sunk at the sight of the shiny, metallic mask underneath.


End file.
